Everyone loves a good ghost story, but the events preceding the hauntings in this episode are very real. Check out our top 5 haunted houses ...
Everyone loves a good ghost story, but the events preceding the hauntings in this episode are very real. Check out our top 5 haunted houses and let us know if you believe in ghosts.nnSpecial thanks to the Raging Burrito in Decatur, GA!nhttp://www.ragingburrito.comnnTop 10 Real-life Haunted Houses article:nhttp://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/afterlife/5-real-haunted-houses.htmnnWhat the Stuff?! episodes are available every Monday and Friday at Noon ET.nnSubscribe http://bit.ly/1AWgeM7nTwitter https://twitter.com/HowStuffWorksnFacebook https://www.facebook.com/HowStuffWorksnGoogle+ https://plus.google.com/+howstuffworksnWebsite http://www.howstuffworks.comnWatch More https://www.youtube.com/HowStuffWorksnnTranscript:nDo you believe in ghosts? It’s okay to say yes, because a little more than one-third of American adults do too. And some of them claim to have experienced the signs of hauntings that we’re all familiar with from horror movies: apparitions, weird sounds, unexplainable moved objects and even cold spots. This isn’t “Amityville” or “Poltergeist” we’re talking about here. True believers say these are _real_ haunted houses that you can either stay as far away from as possible… or enter if you dare.nnTake the Whaley House, for example. In 1852 a guy nicknamed “Yankee Jim” was convicted of grand larceny and hung to death on a site in San Diego where the Whaley House now resides. Its residents have long claimed to hear the sound of Yankee Jim’s boots clomping through the house. There’s so much paranormal activity in Whaley House that some have declared it the “most haunted house” in America. Even Regis Philbin claims to have seen a ghost when he stayed there. nnBut that’s still not as weird as the Faces of Belmez. There’s a small cottage in the Spanish town of Belméz that is built on old burial grounds. Former resident Maria Goméz Pereira discovered a 3-dimensional face there, rising up from the cement kitchen floor in 1971. It resembled a plaster casting, as if a head was buried below it. Pereira tried to chip the face away with an axe, but underneath she kept finding more faces. Some were old men. Others were children. Scientists have examined the site and have yet to pinpoint how the faces got there.nnYou may have heard of Blickling Hall, “the most haunted home” in all of England. It was once where Anne Boleyn grew up… one of King Henry the 8th’s wives and mother to Queen Elizabeth the first. When Boleyn couldn’t provide Henry with a son, she was scandalously charged with treason, adultery and incest… and then decapitated. Every year, on the anniversary of her execution, those at Blickling Hall have sighted her ghostly arrival in a carriage drawn by a headless horseman. Boleyn herself, is said to carry her own severed head with her.nnThen there’s the Villisca Ax Murder House. Two girls stayed with the Moore family in Villisca, Iowa after church one night in 1912. Sometime between midnight and dawn, an intruder entered the Moore’s home and brutally crushed the skulls of all 8 people inside with an axe. The killer was never found. Since then, numerous hauntings have been reported, including falling lamps, flying objects and mysterious voices.nnHere’s one with a plot twist: the LaLaurie House. Some in New Orleans suspected that wealthy Lalaurie family didn’t properly feed or care for their slaves back in 1831. Lalaurie was fined and forced to sell her slaves, but her family bought them back for her. Later, Lalaurie’s cruelty was revealed when her cook set the house on fire and rescuers pulled chained, malnourished slaves from the building. Two died. Two more were found buried in the yard. Lalaurie fled town, never punished. The house is still known for its hauntings. LaLaurie inspired a character on “American Horror Story” and actor Nicolas Cage bought the home in 2007, calling it “ghost-front property.” He lost the haunted house to foreclosure in 2009.nnHave you experienced a haunting? Do you believe in ghosts? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to subscribe for more HowStuffWorks knowledge on ghosts, houses and historical tragedies. Less
